


Love, Magic and Soul-sucking

by Soofdope



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soofdope/pseuds/Soofdope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts AU - Myka finds a strange notebook in the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love, Magic and Soul-sucking

Myka tore her gaze off the Daily Prophet and rubbed her tired eyes. She had always thought it important to stay up to date with everything going on in the world, be it good or bad, but over the course of the last year she had gradually lost the will to do so. The Phoenix, once considered a lowlife thug responsible for a few small-scale terrorist attacks – some of which Myka had dealt with personally in her days as an Auror – had seen his following grow exponentially over the last few years. Lately, he had been taking more and more lives and expanding his reign of terror far beyond the borders of the British Isles. Just today Myka had read about a blast of magical origin destroying a Muggle opera building in Portugal, an escaped chimera terrorising part of northern Scandinavia, and, of course, more disappearances. There were always disappearances these days. The Phoenix, who in the early days had seemed so proud of the death and destruction he caused and could not be made to stop boasting about his attacks, had not been directly linked to any form of mayhem in over four years now. However reluctant to admit it, Myka had known for a while that the Phoenix was cleverer and far more ambitious than anyone, including the press and the ministry, had originally given him credit for. Not knowing what was connected to the Phoenix and what wasn’t did nothing but make people assume the worst and grow frightened.

But today, Myka would not be made to speculate and regret ever quitting her job as an Auror. She decided she needed some distraction. But with no homework in need of correcting or classes to be prepared, Myka couldn’t just lose herself in her work. She would have taken a walk on the castle grounds, but the weather had been abysmal these last few days. Maybe she could take a trip to the library. She hadn’t been there once since the start of the school year and it was already mid October. Deep down she realized that she was avoiding the place after her father retired last year and the Divination teacher took over his librarian duties. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, until a replacement was found, but her colleague seemed to enjoy the new added responsibilities and had apparently already added a personal touch to the place. While Myka respected and liked Leena dearly, she was still not quite sure what to make of the situation.

Maybe it was time to get reacquainted with the library. After all, she couldn’t expect to avoid the place forever, and having the afternoon off was not an everyday occurrence. Besides, she did love a good book and while her own collection could be considered extensive, it was nothing compared to what the third floor of Hogwarts castle housed.

It was decided then.

Myka swung open the library door and quickly scanned the visible parts of the room. Everything seemed the same so far, except for Leena occupying the space at the desk her father used to sit at. The bookshelves were allin the same place, and so were the tables, some of which were currently occupied by students doing their homework or enjoying some light reading. The light still filtered through the windows like Myka remembered and the smell of old books still hung in the air. She was momentarily reassured and gathered the courage to step inside. She gave a smile to Leena, who waved back. Next, Myka walked over to where the books on dark magic were – the ones that were not in the restricted section, that is – only to discover that they were not, in fact, books on dark magic. Instead, some of the titles that caught her attention included _Cauldron Care for Flobberworms_ , _Mesmerising Mixtures and Enchanting Elixirs_ , and _Brew ‘n Stew 3: Preparing the Perfect Love Potion_. Well, at least that last one was definitely dark magic, Myka thought wryly. She couldn’t quite understand why, but the knowledge that some, if not all, of the books in the library had been moved, was strangely unsettling to her. She walked on, studying more of the titles, but everything was about potions. Upon reaching the wall, she sighed loudly, as if hoping that someone would hear her and promptly undo every recent change made to the library.

Running a hand absentmindedly over the books, she turned around and started walking back to the main aisle. When her hand grazed something that felt like reptilian skin, Myka felt a rush of panic go through her as she quickly withdrew her hand and turned her head to look at the row of books. Just the school’s copy of _Curious Concoctions_. Relieved and slightly embarrassed at her moment of panic, Myka smiled. She was about to continue her search for the DADA section when another book caught her eye. It was rather small, black and, wedged between _Curious Concoctions_ and _Delightful Draughts_ , fairly inconspicuous. There wasn’t even a title. For some reason, however, Myka felt the urge to pick up the little book. Leafing through the first few pages, Myka realised it was someone’s notebook. She briefly wondered who it could have belonged to and how it had ended up in the library; had a student used one of the library books and upon returning it, left their notebook behind by mistake, or was it actually meant to sit among the heavy potion books?

As Myka flicked through the pages, most of them entirely filled with scribbles and sketches, it became clear to her that this could not have been the work of a student. There were complicated notes on spells, advanced potion recipes, and detailed drawings of strange devices, most of which Myka had never seen or even heard of before. She lingered on the few pages near the middle of the book where most of the notes had been scribbled out. From what Myka could make out, the notes had something to do with time travel, but it appeared that this particular invention had not been a successful one.

When a student walked past her in search of a book, Myka suddenly became aware of her surroundings again. She hastily closed the notebook, and decided to go and ask Leena where to find what she was looking for.

“Hello, Myka”, the Divination teacher spoke, looking up from her work when she saw Myka approach. “Would you like to check that out?”

“Oh,” Myka said, looking down at the book in her hand, “I’m not sure yet.” She hesitated a moment, then went for it: “Leena? Where are the Defence Against the Dark Arts books?”

“Third row on the right,” she answered, smiling.

Myka nodded and turned around, then reconsidered. “Why?”

Next came an explanation that Myka, despite understanding the individual words, couldn’t quite make sense of. Something about auras and restoring balance. She decided to just give the woman another nod and leave it at that. Turning around to head for the DADA section, Myka slipped the book into one of her cloak’s pockets.

She spent the next two hours or so perusing the section on dark magic and found a book that she hadn’t read yet. When she noticed it was nearly time for her third-year class, Myka sighed contently, happy with herself for choosing to spend some of her afternoon in the soothing company of books. She returned the heavy book to its new location, smiled at Leena when she passed her, and exited the library.

The class went smoothly. With a few exceptions, the third-year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were a motivated bunch, which made their classes some of the more enjoyable ones for Myka. She spent most of dinner listening to Pete excitedly talking about the crazy things that had happened during his recent Flying classes, so as much as she had learnt to appreciate her colleague’s presence, she was happy to have some time to herself at the end of the day.

Myka closed the door to her office and moved to her desk to quickly go over next day’s classes. As she took off her cloak, she noticed the black notebook still sitting in one of her pockets. Her classes instantly forgotten, she took out the notebook, hung her cloak over the chair and sat down. Myka carefully examined the first few pages, hoping to find the author’s name somewhere, even though she had already looked for it in the library. As expected, nothing.

On a hunch, she opened it up to the last page. And there it was, in the bottom right corner: H.G. Wells. The name had a familiar ring to it, but it took Myka a few minutes to place it. Of course. The Muggle writer. Myka had read one of his books as a teenager, after learning about him in her Muggle Studies class. _War of the Worlds_ , she believed it was called. She had really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t always easy to find books by Muggle writers if you spent most of your life within the confines of the wizarding world.

As Myka flipped back to the first pages of the notebook, she almost regretted finding the name. The reveal had raised more questions than it had answered. If H.G. Wells was a Muggle writer, what was his notebook, full of decidedly magical inventions, doing in the Hogwarts library? Surely he could not actually have been a wizard, because that fact could not have been a secret to her Muggle Studies professor. Maybe it was all a strange coincidence, and the owner of the notebook just happened to share a name with a famous Muggle author.

Whatever the case, Myka decided that the notebook’s content was just as interesting as the mystery of the person who wrote it, and as she started reading about the various potions, spells and items detailed within the pages, the respect and admiration she felt towards this undoubtedly brilliant man grew exponentially, regardless of who he might have been. Time travel seemed to be a recurring theme of his writings, but there were also many potion recipes, including one which just said “shiny hair” and which consisted almost entirely of dragon’s blood, and another allowing the drinker to breathe in outer space – leading Myka to wonder if the latter had ever been tested. There was even a variant of Wizard’s Chess, including schematics and a complete set of rules.

After reading about an anti-gravity enchantment, Myka came to a page containing the title “grappler”. The word “advanced” was circled in the top-right corner. What followed were instructions on how to perform the spell. It was non-verbal, and its incantation, _Iactocapiam_ , was meant to be accompanied by a quick flick of the wrist. Curious, Myka threw her caution in the wind, aimed her wand at the cupboard on the opposite side of her office, and performed the spell as instructed. Immediately, what looked like a red sort of string shot forward from the tip of her wand and attached itself to the cupboard. When Myka pulled, she heard the cupboard creak as it bent forward slightly. A simple Finite dissolved the red string, and Myka returned to the notebook, impressed.

Only about a dozen pages later, the notes stopped. Nearly a fourth of the notebook was still empty. Disappointed that this was likely to be the only information she would ever receive about this vastly interesting person, Myka decided to call it a night and head to bed. Maybe she could ask Leena about it in the morning. However, just as she was about to close the book, she noticed something. Frowning, she focused her attention back to the notebook and saw something slowly appear on the blank page, until there were five clear letters in black ink that spelt out a word.

 _Hello_.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my first fics, so please be gentle with me, but feel free to point out any mistakes.


End file.
